In response to Escondido Councilman Sam Abed’s commentary (“Escondido’s actions are about public safety, not bias,” Dialog, April 17), he misses the point entirely. It is not Escondido’s subjective intent (i.e., public safety) that is important; it is that the Latino community of North County perceives there are racial motives behind the driver’s license checkpoints that continue to plague and divide Escondido.

It was only a short time ago that Abed was in the majority that passed the infamous rental ban ordinance, and proposed a parking enforcement and day labor ordinances that were widely perceived to reflect an unwelcome atmosphere toward immigrants in Escondido, documented or not.

If anyone really believes that the police manpower necessary to run the frequent checkpoints costs the city nothing, then I have some beachfront property for sale in downtown Escondido! Simple logic tells us that a cop being utilized at a checkpoint is a cop who is unavailable to answer a call for assistance in a serious crime or on patrol in the neighborhood. Felons are quite wary of driving into a publicized and marked police checkpoint. Do the citizens of Escondido have to wait for the John Gardners of the world to confess and tell them where the bodies are buried?

Finally, Abed says that the hit-and-run rate has dropped as a result of the checkpoints. But the rates of hit-and-run collisions have dropped in many other cities that utilize fewer or no such checkpoints. Meanwhile, the rate of serious and violent crime continues to rise in Escondido.

VICTOR MANUEL TORRES

Spokeperson, El Grupo

San Diego

I just can’t wait to hear from David Blair-Loy, the legal director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, when his car full of family members is rammed by an unlicensed, uninsured, undocumented person in Escondido who was “just trying to do nothing more than make a living and save money” (“Impoundments hit low-income people the hardest,” Dialog, April 17). Maybe his attitude will change when he or his family become a victim.

BILL HOWELL

Santee

Years ago, I made an oath to protect and serve. I swore to uphold the law as a police officer. I soon learned that a badge is more than a symbol of power and authority. In my view, a police badge represents the highest honor of public service, a service that earns the public trust. It is a trust that is earned from all the community. It is trust that enables the police to be an integral part of the community. Deterioration of that trust will result in diminished effectiveness.

An effective police force has earned the trust of all parts of the community it serves. The members have learned to serve their residents with honor, integrity, dignity, and respect. They have learned to enforce the law in a manner that is both unbiased in fact and in perception regardless of race, skin color or ethnicity.

In fact, a forward-looking police force is comprised and is a reflection of the community it serves. Unfortunately, this is far from reality in Escondido. While the city is almost half Latino, the police department has fewer than a handful of Latino officers. Is it no wonder that the chief of police has an enormous public relations problem with half of the city? He has no clue as to what the Latino community considers important or how it wants to be policed. To make matters worse, Chief Jim Maher doesn’t appear to care. His halfhearted attempts to reach out to Latinos are immediately withdrawn when he hears of their concerns that they are being targeted by his overused checkpoints.